First review of the new list!

It's a bold new age!

http://www.drunkduck.com/Agimat_Story/

The review thread is dead! Long live the review thread! Looks like I'm boldly taking the first step too...

Agimat Story is a full colour fantasy manga set in what looks to be an excellently realised world. It's just starting out, but it's full of potential.

The artwork in Agimat is improving steadily as it goes along. It's drawn in a chunky-looking shounen manga style that has a bit of a Toriyama (DBZ) esque feel. At times this can make the characters look a little squat or clunky, especially around the arms and legs. Only a couple of characters have appeared much so far though, so it's hard to make judgements on the anatomy just yet. Adariel is certainly an artist who's getting more and more capable, the anatomy steadily improves, as does the confidence and quality of the line work. Action scenes in particular are excellent, full of energy.
One thing I can't praise enough in this comic is the choice of colours. Though the actual cel-shading technique still looks a little flat, and is an area for improvement, Adariel's eye for colour is superb. The comic uses a relatively limited colour palette of soft, natural, greyish colours. When used with the celtic calligraphy font, and the parchment background fills, these colours enhance the mystical, folkloric feel of the comic, and I'd say are the strongest feature of the art in this comic at the moment.

The plotline is so far, relatively straightforward. People with special powers, given or enchanced by mystical talismans, a world with a strange spirit world attached, the regular people having a mistrust of the people with these powers...Storyline wise, it's all pretty regular. The world setting and the detail put into the world and it's folklore though, seems to be much better created than almost any webcomic of this kind. The characters are powerful, but not overpowered, the old lore seems plausible, it all just draws you in. The dialogue is functional. It's not bad dialogue, but it isn't particularly special, which is good enough for a start, since it gets the job done well in making everything clear. A little more thought put into the dialogue maybe, making it more creative could help pull up the atmosphere some more, but I think that's more an improvement to think on in the future than an urgent concern for Adariel right now.

My thoughts on this, it's a very good comic. A solid 'v.good' which looks like it could easily develop into an 'excellent' with some development over time.

Art:
Is steadily improving, and was decent in the first place. At the beginning I might have said it was a bit plain and needed something to make it stand out, but the coloring is doing that at this point. There's also more detail in general than the beginning, and that's nice to see. I don't think there's anything much to work on that the artist isn't already working on or/aware of, as evident by the improvement. I also really like that interesting perspectives are being used and that the artist is using the panel shapes and placement to go along with the story.

Writing/Story:
You've definitely got the fantasy/action storytelling down. The only thing about it is that it's not a particularly unique story, but uniqueness is near impossible now, so there's not much to do about that except trying to do it really well, which you are. The narrative sections are well balanced with the dialogue and action sequences, and the characters are being developed, which is always nice to see. On the whole it reminds me of something between Naruto and all the fantasy books I've read over the years. That's a pretty good mix, I'd say.

Other:
The font used for the narrative portion (the lord of the rings-y looking one) comes out looking a bit pixellated for my taste. It's still readable, so it's okay, but there must be a way to fix it(not that I would really know...). Other than that, it's looking great so far. Very well done, and great to see an author making improvements on their own.

I just finished reading Agimat Story. It has a solid fondation, great art, but the hook to the story is kinda slow. I like comics about magic and different worlds and that is where this comic seems to be heading, but I do not see a clear confilct.

The writer has set up the expectations of the comic very well. He started out laying the foundation with the first few pages, telling us what the Agimat are and how they can be used. This pretty much gives use the rules to the universe, and I think that is an important thing to do in a fantasy comic. If readers do not know how the world work and the hook is no good, then they will become lost and uninterested. Clearly, this is not the case. The write captured my attention by telling me about these magic trinkets. As long as the writer sticks to the rules he has given his universe, and not try to break them early, he will have great success with this comic!

http://www.drunkduck.com/Agimat_Story/index.php?p=129346

The drawings are very well done! The line art is very clean and well drawn! You can tell that the artist cares about his work. The color is well done, again the artist is taking his time to make a great product. In my eyes, this area can damn your comic if you let your art slack.

I am still waiting for the story to take off. It seems like most comics like this take forever to get the ball rolling. I like to know where I am, who the people are and what they are up to right away. I can understand holding back for dramatic effect, but I want to at least know the basics of the story. Unless of course, the characters themselves don't know where they are or how they got there. I guess more pages will help that for me.

Over all this is a well put together comic! The story has potential to be really strong, the art looks good and he has two characters that can developed to be very likeable. I can't really see the conflict in the story yet, but again the comic is still young and waiting to spread its wings.

Keep up the great work, I will defiantly keep and eye on this comic to see where it is going!! I give it a 4 out of 5!

Ok let me see.

I dont think I can give a decent review of this... since there is still too much to be read about. Its only 25 pages... and its not one of those comics that have alot of stuff happening in a page. One page of it accomodates a few dialog and perhaps a few panels of action and stuff...


Anyway, fewer panels on a page IS a good thing in my opinion.


STORY:

- I think it would be helpful to explain more to the readers a background of the world. Like... since this is drunkduck... and most people here arent familiar with Filipino mythology... since comics culture is mostly all about Japanese and European culture... with the knights, samurais, ninjas, goblins, orcs, elves, etc... etc... etc...

It would be best to educate the readers... like set up a guide or something that talks about them.

I know I know... you'd be like... "but I got a few pages up about dewendes and diwatas". Thats another way to do it... by creating a separate html document thats like a little "guidebook" thing.

- I like the background... the premises of the story. Since its not set in Japan or America... for a change. And its good. To let Filipino culture be more exposed to the world.

- Score for the story: N/A. 25 pages is not fair enough to give a grade for this. Maybe after 100 pages, I can give a fair rating.



ART

- Nice action scenes. I'm a fan of action scenes... and I'd give em my bronze star of approval (um... maybe a little more to hit gold or whatever. Since nobody really gives a shit about kyupol-formulated awards).

- Human figures are ok enough. Though the style feels a little bit like the author is still developing it. It doesnt feel "refined" enough. But hey. Thats a part of learning. I was once at that point.

- Backgrounds could use a bit of work. I know I know. MINIMALISM!!! But its just one of the things I prefer... I like looking at something with more details. BGs shouldnt be neglected.

- Good panels. Easy to follow. One of the few user-friendly comics out there that dont splatter a million words on one page.

- Score for the Art: 3.5/5



OVERALL

- I'd still read this comic. Cannot really give an overall mark for this... since 25 pages is not fair. :)

Alright, let's review.

The major thing that's good about this comic is how readable it is. Your aren't afraid to use interesting camera angles or draw the characters in full. Also the speech bubbles are nice and clean and the text is very readable. Readability is very important in comics because it facilitates involvement in the story, despite shortcomings in other areas.

Alright, moving on to art. Your art isn't great, but it works (as I said before, the comic is very readable). It's very anime stylized art, but the characters look kind of awkward and the faces are all done the same. If they didn't have different hair there'd be nothing to tell the two main characters apart with. Also your coloring; Why are their skin tones almost white? Peoples skin tones are actually closer to orange or pink or a mix of those. My guess is that you're still defensive on colors and your using colors that aren't very rich because of that. You need to experiment.

Story- Very little of it so far. The flashbacks came through well though by shifting between color and B&W. We get the main idea of what's happening; there's some kind of evil force that took over a place where these kids used to go all the time (kind of like what happened in the second season of Digimon.) It's typical stuff, which one would expect to see on a kids TV show or something, but it's pulled off well enough. Problem is these characters don't really feel all that substantial yet. You need to flesh them out.

Overall: You need more practice on anatomy and your being too defensive on colors. The comic is very readable, however, and you can continue to make improvements. Good luck.

I'm not a really big review writter, but I'll give it my best shot.

I've been reading Agimat Story since it started. The characters look well drawn and I like the coloring and shading used by the artist. The artist has, in my opinion, a real knack for creating action. When things are happening in the story, they are HAPPENING. I also like the way the artist uses arcaine like language to activate spells in his story. Something that seems to be lacking in a lot of stories where magic plays a major role in the story.

In my opinion, Agimat Story could improve on the following...
The story is good, but it seems to take a while before anything exciting happens.
Secondly, I'd say that a regularly scheduled update would also help. Sometimes it seems like a lot of time goes by between updates. (A regular schedule might help out with the first weakness.)

Over all, I like this comic and I recomend it to anyone who likes magic, and mythical creatures. The artwork is good and the story keeps me curious as to what will happen next. On a scale of one to ten I give Agimat Story a 7.5.

This was an enjoyable read and interesting enough so I'll give my review.

Layout:
I was first captivated by the pace and framework through the comic. It wasn't beyond dynamic to the point of annoyance and following along was easy. Space, placement and presentation of each page really shows how much the artist know's their stuff.

Depth and Story:
The story of magic in this comic was very much different than normal fiction and has me want to learn more about this world and the things in it. The artist really uses this element in showing how the characters interact with that environment.

Characters:
The short history of the characters are shown in quick sequence. Being acquanted with the characters is important and I see no problems in the author making this happen. Although, their designs may be little simple. Perhaps we'll have to wait for the story to develop more to see an improvement in personal wear.

Style:
The backgrounds and characters mesh. No fantastic difference in the two to distract me from the pace and story. The action is well paced and the posing of the characters and their involvement with the environment really work together. I'm looking foward to the improvement of showing more "friction" and realism in action sequences as the artist gets better.

Extra Material:
Plenty of extras are good and this comic has them evenly placed without interupting the story too much. Its like a lesson that I want to get with all the explanations and bio summaries of the characters. I wouldn't mind seeing more of these at all.

Overall:
Overall this comic has great potential and all it really needs is the artist to recieve more experience and try new things to improve in the style. Everything else has a great balance and keeps readers interested so the author should just keep doing what they are doing.

Rating: 8 out of 10

a big thanks to the ones who gave their reviews. Im always on the look out for stuff that i should improve on, so these reviews would greatly help in making that list.

now on to reviewing others works..

Overall, Agimat Story is a well done webcomic.

Presentation: The presentation is top-notch, like css said, the comic is highly readable. At first I thought that I would hate the comic due to my dislike of anything involving fantasy. I was wrong about that as I found myself dragged into the story. The panel and direction is done well. There are great shots of the characters fighting and interacting that are always interesting and is never the same pose over and over again like some comics. The artists seem to have a great understanding how comics in general work. Keep this up.

Also, the black and white thing for flashbacks? That was a good idea.

Art: Over the course of 25 pages, there have been improvements on the art. The characters in Agimat Story look the same with some cosmetic differences. It's not a big problem, as one could easily tell the characters apart due to the color. Though the artist should work on creating different styled characters and faces. Some earlier pages had the characters looking a tad stiff. (That's in the past now, no need to fix that.) Latter comics are much more fluid. There also is some room for improvement in which the artist is clearly improving. I do love the fact that the artist does draw backgrounds. It does not distract the eyes from the characters, blends in nicely with the comic. One does not over shine the rest. It's a good balance. The art could use some improvement, but it's all good in the 'hood.

Overall: A solid comic that has some flaws with the art. As the art improves (which it is.) these flaws will disappear in time. The presentation is a solid thing that carries the comic. Keep that up and keep drawing more. With a bit more practice, Agimat Story could become a comic better than just good.

myxo's score: B+